·
Isaiah
61:10-63:3
·
Galatians
4:4-7
·
Luke
2:15-21
Who remembers Christmas Day? It was only on Monday. As
on Christmas Day, I will thank you for being here. I will say again that you do
not have to be here. I have to be here. You do not. (And, as I said before,
that is unusual in prison.) So, again, thank you for choosing to be here, and choosing
to begin your week with worship.
I said on Monday that Christmas can be hard in prison.
We all know it. I am not telling you anything you do not know. But it is
sometimes – often – worth naming these things.
Well, today comes with difficulties of its own.
First, it is still Christmastide in the Church
calendar. Our Gospel reading shows this most clearly. We are back with the
story of the birth of Jesus.
Second – and again I am naming what is obvious – we
meet on the last day of the year (the “secular” year – the year of our everyday
calendars). Today is New Year’s Eve, and tomorrow is New Year’s Day. What, if
anything, can we make of that?
Yet another obvious point is that many outside of
prison will be partying hard this evening, and into the small hours. That’s not
an option for you. Don’t get me wrong: we know you can find access to
substances. But they won’t give you what they seem to promise. They won’t
really provide a party atmosphere. So you may well be feeling a sense of loss,
and additional one, on top of other senses of loss. (By the way, I am certainly
not going to party; I am here again tomorrow.)
But New Year’s Day is about more than partying, or
recovering from partying. New Year’s Day can be when people sit down and think
about their lives. They may have great hopes for the year ahead. They may have
great plans for the year ahead. They may make New Year resolutions. They may
feel a real sense of freedom. They may say: “I am free to do what I want in
this new, fresh, never-before year. I am going to claim my freedom this year!”
And these things are… not impossible in prison, but they are harder to say in
prison. So you may be feeling an additional narrowness (constraint) here, along
with all the other narrownesses (constraints) you feel here.
Or perhaps these days mean nothing to you, and you
wonder why I am going on, in this way. That would be perfectly fair. After all,
it is not New Year in the Church calendar. New Year’s Day is Advent Sunday,
which was back on 3 December, this time around. Tomorrow is the 8th
day of Christmas, where we also mark the naming and circumcision of Jesus. If
we want to let this New Year go unmarked, we are perfectly free to do that.
There I go again, saying: “we are free”. You may well
say: “Be honest, Patrick. You are free, and we are not.” I get that. I
do get that. But there are different kinds of freedom. And some freedoms (the freedom
to think, the freedom to orient your life as you see fit)… these can be yours
too.
Let us consider today’s readings. In the first reading
from Isaiah, the prophet rejoices in Gd, praises Gd. You are free to do that.
Christians believe that we are made to praise Gd – we are worshipping animals –
and no person and no system can stop you from praising Gd.
One thing that many people of faith find really
helpful is to begin each day thanking Gd. I invite you to do this. Begin each
day thanking Gd that you are alive, and then find at least three other things
to thank Gd for, They will be there, if you look for them. Even when things are
really hard, there will be things to give thanks for. The freedom to do this is
yours, here and now. Claim it.
In the second reading, from Paul’s Letter to the
Galatians, Paul gives us some of the most encouraging words in the whole Bible.
He says that as Spirit-filled Christians we have what we need to call Almighty
Gd, Creator of heaven and earth… call Almighty Gd “Father”, “my Father”. Yes,
this is one of the things you can give thanks for. “Thank you Gd, that you
are my true Father; you love me with fatherly love; you will always love me
with a fatherly love; you long for nothing more than for me to call you Father.”
The freedom to say this and mean it is yours, Claim it.
And in today’s gospel we can give thanks for Jesus’s
birth again, and for faithful Joseph, and the rejoicing shepherds. But let us
pay attention especially to Mary. Mary
“treasured all these words and pondered them in her
heart”.
Again, here is something for you. You can imitate
Mary. You can ponder the words of Gd, and the things of Gd, in your heart. How
to? It is not a puzzle. I say start in this way: on your own, sit still. Sit
still, on your own. Say to Gd: “Gd, my Father, I am here. Be with me in the
way that you want to be with me, and in the ways that are good for me. I am in
no hurry.” And see what happens. You are free to do this. Claim it.
And, look, we are also free, free to do something
creative with the fact that tomorrow is called New Year’s Day. Some traditions do
use New Year as a time to recommit to Gd. They may even speak of “renewing the
covenant”. A covenant in the Bible is a binding commitment. And in the Bible Gd
makes covenants with Gd’s people. Gd commits himself to us, so that we can
commit ourselves to him. That’s quite something, if you think about it. Gd
commits himself to us, so that we can commit ourselves to him.
I am going now to read the words of recommitment, of
the renewal of the covenant. I invite you to say them after me. At the moment,
I am inviting you to say them, just to see how they feel in your mouths, to see
if they form something you want to say Yes too. Because this is a serious
prayer. It’s the opposite of a throwaway: “Gd, please give me what I want”.
Listen out for the seriousness. There will be a chance to say them as a prayer,
later in the service.
I am
no longer my own but yours.
Your
will, not mine, be done in all things,
wherever
you may place me,
in all
that I do and in all that I may endure;
when
there is work for me and when there is none;
when I
am troubled and when I am at peace.
Your
will be done
when I
am valued and when I am disregarded;
when I
find fulfilment and when it is lacking;
when I
have all things and when I have nothing.
I
willingly offer all that I have and am
to
serve you, as and where you choose.
Glorious
and blessed God,
Father,
Son and Holy Spirit,
you
are mine and I am yours.
May it
be so for ever.
Let
this covenant now made on earth
be
fulfilled in heaven.
Amen.[1]
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